10 Hilarious Movies That Received Terrible Reviews

Humor is generally a pretty subjective concept, so relying on critics’ reviews to determine whether or not a particular comedy is funny or not can be quite misleading. Different strokes for different folks, they say, and movies that some people find hilarious others think of as stupid.

The ratings on rottentomatoes.com are for the most part reliable, but when it comes to comedies, should probably be thrown out the window. To know for sure if a movie is funny, you’ve simply got to see it for yourself. I imagine there may be a great deal of dissent when it comes to this article, but that’s to be expected.

I’m also pretty sure many people will agree with me when I deem some of these movies “hilarious.” Alrighty, enough of all that; let’s get to it. Here are 10 hilarious movies that received terrible reviews.*

*reviews obtained from www.rottentomatoes.com

Freddy Got Fingered

Rating: 11%

Yeah, some people don’t like Tom Green, but lots think he’s hilarious. I am one of those people. In Freddy Got Fingered, he jerks off a horse during the first ten minutes of the movie. Later, he swings a newborn baby over his head by its umbilical chord. What this has to do with his dream to become a professional animator I have no idea, but it’s funny.

The Brothers Solomon

I first saw The Brothers Solomon when I was flipping through the channels. I had never heard of it before, but since it starred Will Arnett, I figured I’d give it a shot. It ruled. Will Arnett is so good at delivering absurd lines with a straight face.

Rating: 16%

A Night at the Roxbury

I didn’t think the Roxbury sketch from SNL was that great, but the movie was unexpectedly hilarious. People didn’t really appreciate Will Ferrell back then. And they never appreciated Chris Kattan, a pretty funny dude in his own right.

Rating: 10%

Hot Rod

Hot Rod features a lot of random, non-sequitor style humor, and the cast features some of the funniest guys working today. Danny McBride is batting 1.000 for his comedy career; the guy has yet to be unfunny in anything.

Rating: 38%

Van Wilder

My buddy Nick turned me on to Van Wilder, which I assumed would be a cheap Animal House clone. I was way off – Ryan Reynolds shines in this movie, but he by no means carries it. The pastries scene is about the grossest thing I have ever seen.

Rating: 18%

Beerfest

What do critics have against Broken Lizard? This movie gets funnier each time I see it, which is a pretty good thing for a comedy. The funniest guys in this movie, though, are ze Germans. Hello, dirty Harrys!

Rating: 39%

Billy Madison

This is the highest rating in this article (41%), but that seems extremely low for a movie that has become somewhat of a cult comedy classic. Anybody who went to high school in the 90s can recite about 20 quotes from this movie.

Rating: 41%

Super Troopers

Another Broken Lizard movie, and another comedy gem. Super Troopers has memorable characters – like Farva – and about a joke per minute, all of which are pretty funny. Out of every movie on this list, Super Troopers improves most upon repeated viewings. I’ll never not watch it if it’s on TV.

Rating: 35%

Waiting

The entire movie is very funny, but the new employee’s rant at the end of the movie is unbelievably hilarious. The “bat” jokes scattered throughout are pretty amazing, too. This was another movie I expected to be terrible.

Rating: 31%

Dirty Work

Norm MacDonald, Artie Lang, and a little Don Rickles? Come on.

Rating: 17%

Were these movies funny? Unfunny? Are there any movies that you think are hilarious that have gotten awful reviews? Let me know in the comments section.

About The Author

Madison

Madison is one of three original writers for Unreality, along with Paul Tassi and Nat B. He enjoys science fiction movies, books, and television, and is a huge fan of South Florida sports teams. He currently has a career as a medical malpractice defense attorney, but he pops in from time to time to leave a comment or write a guest post.

Beerfest is the worst movie on this list. All the others are funny and they are FUNNIER the MORE you watch them! Can’t even tell you how many times we watched Super Troopers and Van Wilder in college!

The best parts of Dirty Work are when Norm uses his tape recorder to jot down his thoughts – but he always manages to accidentally play more than he should! (e.g. “buy hemroid cream for giant hemriod on my ass”) CLASSIC.

I haven’t seen about half of the movies on this list, but the ones I have seen consistently rate among my favorite comedies.

I think the difference in critical versus consumer opinion comes down to age gap between the groups. I would say that the target audience for these movies is the highly sought-after 18 to 30-year-old male demographic. Most critics, especially those in prominent media positions (I’m looking at you, Roger Ebert), are appreciably older and have often admitted to simply being out of touch with this kind of humor.

It’s a shame that these low reviews may have prevented thousands (millions?) of people from seeing these worthy and truly funny flicks.

Some of these are among my favorite comedy movies. I think all of the Broken Lizard stuff is hilarious (Beerfest and Supertroopers and the less known Club Dread). But I recently saw the Brothers Solomon and though I love Will Arnet because of his character GOB in Arrested Development, this was a terrible movie.
Critics under-appreciate a truly just for giggles movie. They are movies that I buy on DVD because I know that I will watch them over and over.
Zoolander and Grandma’s Boy are movies that only get better with repeated watchings.
I happen to love the movie Superstar but haven’t found anyone else that has.
And Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood Men in Tights.

Agree with most on this list, but I would add Grandma’s Boy. Took a few viewings for me (every time I passed it late at night on the movie channels I’d find myself watching it) but now it’s one of my favorites.

Thank you! Super Troopers should be one of the top 25 comedies of all time! Also, love Dirty Work and Van Wilder. The SNL movies were very watchable, as was Beerfest. I’m going to Netflix Hot Rod, Freddie, and Waiting. Super Troopers rules!!!!!!

Hot Rod is for sure the best one out of this bunch. No idea why it got panned so hard, especially when The Lonely Island is doing so well on SNL and iTunes. Hilarious film. I did not stop laughing for the five minute fall down the hill. So unexpected, and so perfect. Otherwise, I think that maybe Freddie Got Fingered should be cut from the list. I love random comedy, but this is where it gets just absurd. I haven’t seen Dirty Work, but the others are all pretty good.

These movies are awful, completely unfunny and downright embarrassing to the American film industry. For you to defend them proves that you have poor taste in movies and should be castrated so this world cannot be infected with your offspring.

To top it off your writing style is sophomoric and completely underwhelming. You seem to think that because you are saying a movie is funny then that makes it so. A sentence or two is not only unconvincing but just plain lazy.

Hey I really appreciate this article because I have seen all of these movies and I loved them all. Most of them before i knew what Rottentomatoes.com was. Although now I use that site before watching any movie, I know that critics have probably watched a 100 times the number of movies I have seen in my life so they won’t find thing as fresh and funny as us “once in a while movie watching” folk. I guess that more of a curse then a gift!

Two comedies I love that received bad reviews are Don’t mess with the Zohan and The Big Hit. Race jokes are dirty but popular in my circle when we bat it back and forth at each other, and Zohan did well with us for that reason. The Big Hit spoofs just about everything to love and hate about cheesy action films.

The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest is a really obscure movie that only got 9 reviews, but this is seriously one of my favorites when it comes to movies that deserved more attention. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re into computers.

Wow, if you think theses movies are good, I can’t imagine what movies you think suck. Have some dignity and be discriminating. There are tons of movies WAY funnier than these. These are all low-brow, gross-out movies that really mostly on shock value rather than the careful crafting of quality comedy. You’re just giving Hollywood the green light to churn out more low rent, cheaply produced and poorly thought out garbage.

Awesome list but I thought Freddy got fingered was just terrible. I didn’t like beerfest too much either but maybe I should try that one again. And I agree, Grandmas Boy should be on top of this list, hysterical movie with horrible reviews.

If you like these movies as I do than you must watch Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella. It’s excellent spanish trilogy but the second one was amazing. You should watch that one first. Thanks for some great suggstions.

Also, this was an excellent list. I am with the other guy who said Saving Silverman is another. Critics hated it, but I crack up at that movie every time I see it. The badly Photoshopped Daren-with-hookers pictures is one of the best parts of that movie.

is everyone forgetting office space that was soo the greatest movie ever n i saw this really great dan akroyd flick had chevy also in it straight to video ill find out the name again they are all dr.s n dan akroyd is the chief of med eveytime someone walks in the office his pants are down n two girls are in there its like an early version of scrubs so freaking hilarious man ill get u guys the name tonight movie gallery still carries it

I can’t agree with every movie on this list, but I thought Waiting and Super Troopers were both okay, Hot Rod was very underrated, and Brothers Solomon was CRIMINALLY underrated; that movie is hilarious and both Arnett and Forte are truly slept-on comedic actors….. Such a funny movie, I thought

Also, I had NO idea that there were people out there that didnt like Van Wilder; Granted, I can see where people may find it offensive, but I’ve always known it to have a pretty big cult following, myself included

These are pretty rough, but if you want to really venture deep, I would suggest films like “C Me Dance,” “Troll 2,” and “The Room.” C Me Dance came out very recently, in April of 2009. It is a Christian-themed film with no believable characters, too much “plot” and yet no tension or threat throughout the entire film. It’s a beautifully hilarious mess where Director/Writer/Actor Greg Robbins tried to hard to be “sensational” without putting in any time or effort into making the film coherent. It’s a lovely disaster. You can find the trailer and even the entire film on YouTube, among other videos that mock it.

Freddy Got Fingered is one of my favorite comedies. The key is you have to view this movie as a joke on the industry itself. Tom Green even said, “What did they expect?” The movie is a brilliant masterpiece! Most scenes make little sense, the plot is really just a side-story to a series of ridiculous moments where Tom might as well be saying, “Screw you” to all stuffy movie critics and industry folks. The greatest inside joke ever. Bravo Mr. Green!